Trinity Episcopal Church
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
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CLASS 10
May 4, 2008:
Anglican Polity and Politics
A Class Assembled and Taught By Bill Stroop
Revised 11 February 2008
Introduction | So What Is Anglicanism? | An Overview of the Anglican Communion
What Holds the Communion Together? | Organization of the Episcopal Church | Web Resources for You to Use | Bibliography
This class session is accompanied by visual aids (slide projections). Periodically in the text below are buttons like this one: . If you left double click on the button you will be taken to the slide show that was shown in class. Here, you can look at the slide(s), and then use the "Back" button on your browser to bring you back to this page. Try it now on the slide show button above. Also, printable handouts of the slides are available in pdf format that you can read with Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you need a copy of that program on your computer, you can download a certified no-cost copy of the program directly from Adobe. Click here to get the reader program.
Class 11 |
CLASS 10:
In the previous class, we talked about the church calendar, liturgical vestments, and prayer as viewed from the Episcopal tradition, and as informed by the Book of Common Prayer. But the Episcopal Church is only one member of the larger Anglican Communion - which is a confederation of provinces that arose as a result of the spread of the Church of England throughout the world during the periods of English colonization. However the church did not take an active role in evangelization during the colonial period. But rather it spread by chaplains who were part of the colonial expeditionary forces. Evangelization was largely accidental.
The Anglican Communion can be thought of in several ways: as a political body, a spiritual one, the Body of Christ, a collection of parishes connected by the Prayer Book tradition, and so forth. In a chapter entitled "What is Anglicanism?" in the book, The Study of Anglicanism, Paul Avis describes the Anglican Communion as a priesthood bound together by worship. He writes,
The Anglican priesthood is a pastoral one: neither a sacerdotal caste serving to restrict the spiritual privileges of the laity, the people of God, nor a didactic, scribal, rabbinic, judicatory order that lays down the law as to belief and practice and is entrusted with the duty of policing its enforcement. It is a priesthood—it has authoritative, sacramental and even mediatory functions (provided that these are understood as embodying the priestly character of the people of God who are baptized into Christ’s priestly office)—but a priesthood that involves all the gentleness, the attention to human needs, the listening ear, and the solidarity in our human condition of the true pastor.
Worship is common: that is to say, not performed by a vicarious priesthood on behalf of a liturgically unqualified laity, but shared by the whole priestly body of the Church whose comprehending participation (to use a phrase of Stephen Sykes) is vital. Moreover, under the parochial system, it is the common prayer of a given community, that already exists for other, secular purposes, not of a self-selecting élite. The nature of Anglican common worship constantly militates against all sectarian tendencies.
Avis goes on to say that Anglicanism does not hide behind religious walls, but openly deals with the realities of the world in which we live. He writes,
Anglicanism’s love of the truth is fearless. The scholarly pursuit of truth and the conscientious witness to it are safeguarded in Anglicanism ... Anglicanism has put a special value on scholarly integrity and has permitted a breadth of theological opinion to flourish within its borders. The Anglican ideal is certainly a noble one, though one that remains to be fully attained. It appears to focus on a particular view of the role of authority in the sphere of religion. It appeals to Scripture, tradition and reason, but does so in the acknowledged context of our modern pluralistic situation. As a result, these three sources or criteria are combined in a dynamic way in order to serve as mutual qualifiers, checks and balances, not merely to restrict and relativize each other but also to generate innovative thinking in dialogue with the Church’s cultural and ideological context. The result is a muted—some would say emasculated—notion of authority, but it is one that is eminently suited to our condition. The question of the distinctiveness of Anglicanism is a legitimate and necessary one, but it must never become our prime concern.
Many people have argued that Anglicanism fails to take an adequate stand on moral or theological issues, and consequently is a denomination that suffers from a lack of identity. Avis argues that while this might be a problem for some, it should not be taken too seriously. He writes,
The problem of identity is one that troubles both individuals and institutions, including churches, but to become obsessed by it would be neurotic. Identity is not an end in itself, but it is a corollary of integrity. While Stephen Sykes has argued that there is no integrity without identity, I would prefer to put the equation the other way round. A distinctive identity does not necessarily guarantee integrity. While identity can be contrived by all sorts of dubious means, including the manipulation of people’s perceptions by the public relations industry, there is no short cut to integrity. Pursue integrity and identity will take care of itself. Anglicanism exists. Its political, social and cultural parameters, with all their compromises, are given. We should not fret about them.
In the end, Avis argues that
the vocation of Anglicanism must be to proclaim the gospel of Christ within those parameters appealing, as is its wont, to all valid sources of information and insight, and to spend itself in the service of Christ for the redemption of humanity. As Michael Ramsey wrote more than half a century ago, while the Anglican Church is vindicated by its place in history, with a strikingly balanced witness to gospel and Church and sound learning, its greater vindication lies in its pointing through its own history to something of which it is a fragment. Its credentials are its incompleteness, with the tension and travail in its soul. It is clumsy and untidy, it baffles neatness and logic. For it is sent not to commend itself as ‘the best type of Christianity’, but by its very brokenness to point to the universal Church wherein all have died.
Anglicanism is a denomination with a vocation. It may not have reached its vocational goals in all times and places, but it nonetheless is a denomination with a purpose.
Anglicanism aspires to be a catholic faith with its roots in Christian antiquity and in continuity of faith and order, worship and witness, from the apostles. The Reformers appealed to the antiquity of the British Church, and autonomous church that long antedated the mission of St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The claim was made (for example, by Archbishop Parker under Elizabeth) that the English episcopate derived from the visit of Joseph of Arimathea. Jewel insisted that the Church of England had departed, not from the Catholic Church, but from the errors of Rome. Whitgift pointed out that the Church of England was ‘reformed’ not ‘transformed’ because ‘we retain whatsoever we find to be good, refuse or reform that which is evil’. In a later generation, Charles Gore believed that Anglicanism could offer ‘catholicism without Rome’ and Garbett affirmed: ‘Uncompromisingly the Church of England is the catholic Church in this land, set free from subjection to the Church of Rome.’The catholicity of Anglicanism rests on its continuity of worship, employing ancient forms purged of medieval accretions, and of pastoral care in the parishes and parish churches whose origins, in Britain, go back to time immemorial. Anglican Catholicity rests also on the retention of the three-fold order of bishops, priests and deacons in the historic succession. Above all, the catholic character of Anglicanism is revealed it its adherence to the Scriptures, the creeds and the councils of the undivided Church (canonically, the first four), which give the Church its christological and trinitarian dogmas. The catholicity of Anglican faith is further evinced by the fact that it acknowledges the authority of the Church (and of a particular church) to adjudicate in disputed matters of faith. In appealing to the authority of the Church gathered in council, Anglicanism shows itself to belong to the conciliar, as opposed to the monarchical tradition of Catholicism.
Anglicanism aspires to be a reformed faith. The essentially reformed character of Anglicanism is evidenced above all in the place that it gives to Holy Scripture as the norm by which all other sources of Christian truth are evaluated. It was by the touchstone of Scripture that the Reformers rejected aspects of medieval Catholicism: the universal jurisdiction of the pope, the sacerdotal office of the priesthood, the propitiatory sacrifice of the Mass, withholding the cup from the laity, transubstantiation which overthrows the nature of a sacrament, the liturgy in a foreign tongue, compulsory clerical celibacy, mandatory sacramental confession, purgatory and the treasury of merits, the cultus and mediatory role of the saints, the downgrading of the lay vocation compared with the religious life.
| We will watch the video The Story of the Episcopal Church, Part II: The Call to Mission. Cathedral Films and Videos. |
An Overview of the Anglican Communion (Also see the Anglican Domain web site. I have adapted much of their information here)
The Anglican Communion consists of 70 million baptized members worldwide in 38 self-governing Churches, 500 dioceses, 30,000 parishes, 64,000 congregations in 164 countries. The information below about each of the Provinces in the World Wide communion comes from http://www.saintmartins-stockport.org.uk/stmnumbers2.html.
In the United States and Scotland the Anglican Church is called Episcopal, and in most of the rest of the world it is called Anglican. Many churches around the world that have the word Anglican in their name, and virtually all of them are indeed Christian churches in the Anglican tradition. In some sense these are all Anglican churches, and most of them are part of the Anglican Church.
Sometimes churches agree on issues of faith and doctrine and tradition, and sometimes they do not. There is no central administration of the Anglican Church. There is no Pope or President or chief executive. The Anglican Church is instead unified by tradition, belief, and agreement. The coordination of that unity is achieved through something called The Anglican Communion. Some churches use the word "Anglican" or "Episcopal" in their name, but are not part of the Anglican Communion; this make it important to ask questions when in an unfamiliar church.
The Anglican Communion inherits many centuries of catholic and apostolic tradition, especially that part which began in the British Isles. Although Christian missionaries had reached England by the time of the Council of Jerusalem in 50 AD, the foundation of the Anglican Church is often described as having begun with the arrival in 597 AD of St. Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury (See Class 5).
When the Romans withdrew from Britain in 407 AD, they left a legacy of Christianity among the Celtic people. Those Celtic Christian churches were largely still in existence when Augustine arrived two centuries later, though they had become isolated from Rome. In particular, they survived in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, and they helped to ensure that, from its beginnings, the Anglican Communion was not exclusively English in origin.
When the English people settled the British Empire they took their religion with them and thus the Church of England spread overseas. Eventually these overseas parishes became autonomous provinces of the Communion. These churches, while autonomous in their governance, are bound together by tradition, Scripture, and the inheritance they have received from the Church of England. They together make up the Anglican Communion, a body headed spiritually by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
If an Anglican church is a member of the Anglican Communion, it is said to be "in communion", or "in communion with the See of Canterbury". Otherwise it is said to be "not in communion." Generally, Anglican churches that are not in communion with the See of Canterbury have withdrawn because of doctrinal differences. In recent years those differences have included the ordination of women priests and the attitude of the church towards sexuality.
Administratively the Anglican Communion is very complex. It is divided into transnational provinces, extraprovincial dioceses, national churches, intranational provinces, and such. You needn't understand any of them in order to find what you are looking for, and in fact if you know too much about them you might have trouble finding things. For example, the Diocese of Colombia, in South America, is administratively part of the Episcopal Church in the USA, the Diocese of Peru, next door, is administratively part of the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America, and the Anglican Church of Brazil, next door to Peru, is its own province that has seven dioceses. There is also an Anglican Center in Rome, an outpost of the Anglican Communion at the Vatican.
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The world wide Anglican Communion. This map is from http://www.saintmartins-stockport.org.uk/stmnumbers2.htm. The links shown above will not work. But the information for each province is reprinted below. |
Australia
Primate: Dr Peter Carnley
Anglicans: 3.9m
Total population: 20m
History: Founded in 1788 with the arrival of the first emigrants from the UK.
Canada
Primate: Michael Peers
Anglicans: 800,000+
Total population: 32m
History: First church building was St. Paul's, Halifax, in 1750.
England
Primate: Dr Rowan Williams
Number of Anglicans: 26m described themselves as Anglicans at the latest Census, however, the Church of England puts the number of churchgoers as 2.75m.
Total population: 49m
History: English Christianity emerged from the missionary work of St Augustine, sent from Rome in 597, and from the work of Celtic missionaries in the north. Separated from Rome in the 16th Century and became Protestant.
Kenya
Primate: Benjamin Nzimbi
Anglicans: 2.5m
Total population: 32m
History: Mombasa saw the arrival of Anglican missionaries in 1844. The first Africans were ordained to the priesthood in 1885.
New Zealand
Primate: John Paterson
Anglicans: 584,800
Total population: 3.9m
History: The Anglican Church in New Zealand had its beginnings in 1814 when the Maori chief Ruatara agreed with the Reverend Samuel Marsden to give protection to three missionaries and their families at Oihi in the Bay of Islands.
Nigeria
Primate: Peter Akinola
Anglicans: 15m
Total population: 134m
History: The rebirth of Christianity began with the arrival of Christian freed slaves in Nigeria in the middle of the 19th Century.
Southern Africa
(S Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland)
Primate: Winston Njongonkulu Ndungane
Anglicans: 2m
Total population: 65m
History: British Anglicans met for worship in Cape Town after 1806 and the first bishop was appointed in 1847.
Sudan
Primate: Joseph Marona
Anglicans: 5m
Total population: 38m
History: The Church Missionary Society began work in 1899 in Omdurman. Christianity spread rapidly among black Africans of the southern region.
Stance:Archbishop Marona says the Church should tackle the effects of war and poverty before homosexuality. "We have much worse things to face," he has said.
Tanzania
Primate: Donald Mtetemela
Anglicans: 2m
Total population: 36m
History: The Universities Mission to Central Africa and the Church Missionary Society began work in 1864 and 1878 at Mpwapwa.
United States
Primate: Frank Griswold
Anglicans: 2.4m
Total population: 290m
History: Anglicanism was brought to the New World by explorers and colonists with the first celebration of the Holy Eucharist in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.
West Indies
(including Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago)
Primate: Drexel Gomez
Anglicans: 777,000
Total population: 5.3m
History: The Anglican Church arrived in the West Indies with the original English settlers in the early part of the 17th Century, the clergy for the most part being state chaplains to the English officials and planters.
What Holds the Communion Together?
The Anglican Communion is held together by a common loyalty and a degree of affection of worship. The adage of "we are what we pray" possibly really takes on meaning in terms of church polity here. All churches that are in full communion with the See of Cantebury enjoy full recognition of ordained ministers, share a view of apostolicity, etc.). The following four items help the Communion live and work together:
Lambeth Conferences
The Bishops of the world meet every 10 years. Since 1867 the Bishops of the world have met at Lambeth Palace at the See of Cantebury. In 1867 were 76 bishops at Lambeth, and now there are over 700 in attendance. The Lambeth Conferences have no legislative role; Lambeth is simply a consultative body. This meeting has no judicial role because unity is based on affection and common loyalty.
Anglican Consultative Council (ACC)
The ACC is a body of elected Laity and Bishops that serve as an advisory panel that sustains the life of the Anglican Communion between Lambeth conferences. The ACC meets every two years, and the first meeting was in 1968. The next meeting of the ACC will be a little different because of the problem generated by the election and consecration of an openly gay bishop in the U.S. The ACC meetings have no legislative role; they are simply consultative bodies. This meeting has no judicial role because unity is based on affection and common loyalty.
In 2005 the U.S. House of Bishops issued the following statement regarding participation in the ACC. The pertinent paragraph is in red:
House of Bishops' Spring Meeting
Camp Allen, Texas
March 15, 2005
A Covenant Statement of the House of Bishops
We have received the Windsor Report as a helpful contribution to our relationships with Anglican brothers and sisters across the world. We recognize its recommendations as coming from a broadly representative commission inclusive of bishops, clergy, and laity and as an attempt to speak as equals to equals. We experience it as being in the best tradition of autonomy within communion and as helpful in our efforts to live into communion. Likewise, we appreciate receiving the communiqué from the February meeting of the Primates and take seriously the perspectives and convictions stated therein.
It is our heartfelt desire to be responsive and attentive to the conversation we have already begun and to which we are being called and as a body offer the following points.
1. We reaffirm our commitment to the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888 and each of its individual points. We reaffirm our earnest desire to serve Christ in communion with the other provinces of the Anglican family. We reaffirm our continuing commitment to remain in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury and to participate fully in the Anglican Consultative Council, the Lambeth Conference, and the Primates' Meeting, and we earnestly reaffirm our desire to participate in the individual relationships, partnerships, and ministries that we share with other Anglicans, which provide substance to our experience of what it is to be in communion.
2. We express our own deep regret for the pain that others have experienced with respect to our actions at the General Convention of 2003 and we offer our sincerest apology and repentance for having breached our bonds of affection by any failure to consult adequately with our Anglican partners before taking those actions.
3. The Windsor Report has invited the Episcopal Church "to effect a moratorium on the election and consent to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges" (Windsor Report, para. 134). Our polity, as affirmed both in the Windsor Report and the Primates' Communiqué, does not give us the authority to impose on the dioceses of our church moratoria based on matters of suitability beyond the well-articulated criteria of our canons and ordinal. Nevertheless, this extraordinary moment in our common life offers the opportunity for extraordinary action. In order to make the fullest possible response to the larger communion and to re-claim and strengthen our common bonds of affection, this House of Bishops takes the following provisional measure to contribute to a time for healing and for the educational process called for in the Windsor Report. Those of us having jurisdiction pledge to withhold consent to the consecration of any person elected to the episcopate after the date hereof until the General Convention of 2006, and we encourage the dioceses of our church to delay episcopal elections accordingly. We believe that Christian community requires us to share the burdens of such forbearance; thus it must pertain to all elections of bishops in the Episcopal Church. We recognize that this will cause hardship in some dioceses, and we commit to making ourselves available to those dioceses needing episcopal ministry.
4. In response to the invitation in the Windsor Report that we effect a moratorium on public rites of blessing for same sex unions, it is important that we clarify that the Episcopal Church has not authorized any such liturgies, nor has General Convention requested the development of such rites. The Primates, in their communiqué "assure homosexual people that they are children of God, loved and valued by him, and deserving of the best we can give of pastoral care and friendship" (Primates' Communiqué, para. 6). Some in our church hold such "pastoral care" to include the blessing of same sex relationships. Others hold that it does not. Nevertheless, we pledge not to authorize any public rites for the blessing of same sex unions, and we will not bless any such unions, at least until the General Convention of 2006.
5. We pledge ourselves not to cross diocesan boundaries to provide episcopal ministry in violation of our own canons and we will hold ourselves accordingly accountable. We will also hold bishops and clergy canonically resident in other provinces likewise accountable. We request that our Anglican partners "effect a moratorium on any further interventions" (Windsor Report, para. 155; see also 1988 Lambeth Conference Resolution 72 and 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution III.2) and work with us to find more creative solutions, such as the initiation of companion diocese relationships, to help us meet the legitimate needs of our own people and still maintain our integrity.
6. As a body, we recognize the intentionality and seriousness of the Primates' invitation to the Episcopal Church to refrain voluntarily from having its delegates participate in the Anglican Consultative Council meetings until the Lambeth Conference of 2008. Although we lack the authority in our polity to make such a decision, we defer to the Anglican Consultative Council and the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church to deliberate seriously on that issue.
The bonds of affection are not ends in themselves but foundations for mission. Therefore, we re-commit ourselves to work together throughout the communion to eradicate HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases, to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and to address the other efforts mentioned by the Primates' Communiqué (para. 20). We dedicate ourselves to full and open dialogue in every available venue through invitations for mutual visitation, intentional exploration of the theological perspectives and spiritual gifts that our diverse cultures offer, and collaborative partnerships for the purpose of shared mission in Christ.
Primates Meeting
The Primates, that is the Bishops who head each of the world wide provinces meet yearly. These meetings began in 1979. The primates meetings have no legislative role; they are simply consultative bodies. This meeting has no judicial role because unity is based on affection and common loyalty.
The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral
Between 1886 and 1889, the Church opened itself up to the possibility to reunite the world's churches. To this end, four factors were considered essential to the universal (catholic) faith. These tenets were recently affirmed by the U.S. Episcopal House of Bishops in March 2005 (see immediately above). See also Class 6
Organization of the Episcopal Church
The Episcopal Church is made up of between two and three million worshipers in about 7500 congregations across the
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The Provinces within the U.S. Episcopal Church |
The following is taken from the Episcopal Church web site. The Episcopal Church is made up of between two and three million worshipers in about 7500 congregations across the United States and a few related dioceses outside the US. “Episcopal” means “bishop” in Greek, and the Episcopal Church is governed in part by its bishops. “Episcopal” means “bishop” in Greek, and the Episcopal Church is governed in part by its bishops. The basic unit of ministry in the Episcopal Church is the “diocese,” or a region of a reasonable number of Episcopalians. Each diocese is presided over by a “diocesan bishop” who may have help from a variety of other kinds of bishops, depending on the circumstances.
The Diocesan Bishop (addressed as "The Rt. Rev." Smith) chooses and ordains priests and deacons to serve the “parishes,” or congregations, of the diocese, which carryout the ministry of the diocese in their local communities. The priests lead the parish in worship, make decisions related to the sacramental life of the parish, and in general, supports the ministry of the worshiping Christians there.
The Episcopal Church is governed by a Constitution and a set of laws (known as “canons”) which it establishes for itself by Convention, but the diocesan bishop is the ecclesiastical (or “church”) authority in his or her particular diocese. The bishops of the Episcopal Church have no jurisdiction outside of their dioceses, so they meet together twice per year to pray and make decisions about the life of the Church. Every nine years, the Church elects a “Presiding Bishop” (addressed as The Most Rev.) who represents the Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion and presides over meetings of the bishops, known as the “House of Bishops.”
Every three years, delegations (or “deputations”) from all the dioceses, along with the House of Bishops, gather to worship and pass legislation for the Church. This General Convention is where broad decisions are made about policy and worship, as well as revitalizing the Christian community for ministry back home.
Each year, each Diocese convenes a meeting (variously called a "council" or a "convention"). Council is given several powers by the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese. Firstly, it is given the power to adopt Canons for the diocese in addition to any other action deemed necessary for the conduct of the affairs of the Diocese that are not in conflict with either the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese or those of the general Church, including the debate and passage of various resolutions submitted to the Council. With the bishop, the Council is given all temporal powers of the Diocese, except those delegated to some officer, agency, or committee during the interim between Councils. The Council also has the authority to discuss and pass the annual budget.
In the Diocese of Mississippi, our ministries and commissions provide conduits of action for us to proclaim the Gospel, and to accomplish the three major goals of the Diocese: Inviting, Transforming, and Reconciling.
To facilitate our ministry efforts, we have divided our diocese into seven geographical regions called “convocations.” Each convocation is headed by a clergy member who serves as dean and a lay member who serves as president. The convocations are as shown in this map:
The various organizations of the diocese are as follows:
Parishes: |
Missions: |
Mission Stations: |
Chaplaincies: |
Schools: |
Advent-Sumner |
All Saints'- Inverness |
Ascension-Brooksville |
Canterbury at Southern Miss |
All Saints'- Vicksburg* |
All Saints'- Grenada |
Ascension-Hattiesburg |
Calvary-Michigan City |
Canterbury Fellowship M.S.U. |
Coast-Pass Christian |
All Saints'-Jackson |
Good Shepherd-Columbus |
Christ Church-Church Hill |
Episcopal Church at Ole Miss |
St. Andrew's-Jackson |
All Saints'- Tupelo |
Good Shepherd-Terry |
Nativity-Macon |
St. Michael's Chapel-Picayune |
St. George's-Clarksdale |
Calvary-Cleveland |
Grace-Carrollton |
Our Savior-Iuka |
State Penitentiary-Parchman |
St. John's-Laurel |
Chapel of the Cross-Madison |
Grace-Rosedale |
St. George's-Itta Bena |
University Medical Center |
St. Paul 's-Columbus |
Chapel of the Cross-Rolling Fork |
Holy Cross-Olive Branch |
St. Stephen's-Batesville |
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Trinity-Natchez |
Christ Church-Bay St. Louis |
Holy Innocents-Como |
St. Stephen's-Hazlehurst |
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University of the South* |
Christ Church-Holly Springs |
Holy Trinity-Crystal Springs |
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Christ Church-Vicksburg |
Nativity-Water Valley |
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* Owning Diocese |
Creator-Clinton |
Redeemer-Greenville |
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Epiphany-Tunica |
St. Bernard's-Okolona |
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Grace-Canton |
St. Elizabeth's-Collins |
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Holy Trinity-Vicksburg |
St. Francis'- Philadelphia |
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Incarnation-West Point |
St. James'-Port Gibson |
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Mediator/Redeemer-McComb |
St. John's-Aberdeen |
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Mediator-Meridian |
St. John's-Leland |
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Nativity-Greenwood |
St. Mark's-Raymond |
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Redeemer-Biloxi |
St. Mary's-Bolton |
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Redeemer-Brookhaven |
St. Mary's-Enterprise |
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Resurrection-Starkville |
St. Mary's-Lexington |
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St. Alban's-Bovina |
St. Mary's-Vicksburg |
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St. Andrew's-Jackson |
St. Matthew's-Forest |
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St. Christopher's-Jackson |
St. Paul 's-Corinth |
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St. Columb's-Ridgeland |
St. Paul 's-Hollondale |
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St. George's-Clarksdale |
St. Pierre 's-Gautier |
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St. James'- Greenville |
St. Stephen's-Columbia |
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St. James'- Jackson |
St. Thomas '-Belzoni |
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St. John's-Laurel |
Trinity-Newton |
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St. John's-Ocean Springs |
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St. John's-Pascagoula |
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St. Luke's-Brandon |
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St. Mark's-Gulfport |
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St. Mark's-Jackson |
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St. Matthew's-Kosciusko |
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St. Patrick's-Long Beach |
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St. Paul 's-Columbus |
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St. Paul 's-Meridian |
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St. Paul 's-Picayune |
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St. Paul 's-Woodville |
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St. Peter's by the Lake-Brandon |
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St. Peter's by the Sea-Gulfport |
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St. Peter's-Oxford |
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St. Philip's-Jackson |
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St. Stephen's-Indianola |
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St. Thomas '-Diamondhead |
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St. Timothy's-Southaven |
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Trinity-Hattiesburg |
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Trinity-Natchez |
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Trinity-Pass Christian |
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Trinity-Yazoo City |
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No. of Parishes: 51 |
No. of Missions: 29 |
No. of Miss. Stations.: 8 |
No. of Chaplaincies: 6 |
No. of Schools: 8 |
More information can be obtained directly from the Diocesean Web Site.
The Episcopal Church Web Site. This is the web site for the National Church.
The Diocese of Mississippi . This is the home page for the Diocese of Oregon.
The 2003 General Convention. This is a site that will provide you with the actions of the most recent General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Church Constitutions and Canons. These are the official rules and regulations of the church.
Stephen Sykes, John Booty, and Jonathan Knight, Eds. The Study of Anglicanism, Revised Edition. Bristol, England: SPCK/Fortress Press, 1998.
Mark Harris. The Challenge of Change: The Anglican Communion in the Post-Modern Era. New York, NY: Church Publishing, 1998.
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